markinorf

Another great tip a guy here made--- go ahead and install the tail screw before dipping. DN and 9300 can easily be cut away afterwards, and eliminates blotting with the towels. Works great for me. I dip 2 coats of 9300 (or one for DN), tail down. The next day you are still in the recoating window for 9300 and DN without scuffing, so I remove the plugs from the painting hangers, install the nose screw and do the reverse direction (1-2 coats 9300 / 1 DN). I use nitrile gloves to handle them during the swap. I hang em with wire on this session. I know--off topic.....

As far as fumes from 9300, I just run the paint booth fan. Its nothing campared to MCU's. I dont wear a respirator like I do for DN. It definitley can be used indoors. I use lacquers and enamels like HOK and Testors, and it adheres like a champ to these. The plugs that have foil and D2T get scuffed before painting the backs and bellys. Never had a compatibility issue with these. It wont attack ink either (signatures). Its average when dealing with hook rash. Not a silver bullet. I knew when I mentioned this product, there was gonna be some who hate this stuff. Never had any baits peel away like the one in the pic. The guy said it was the 9000, wich is the interior grade clear. It does take several days to reach max hardness (app 3-4 coats). I think it would be good base sealer for wood. I make most of my plugs out of PVC or cast them, so I havent used it for that. I have a bunch of different cleacoats options in my shop, but I keep going back to the 9300 for all my personal plugs. Its super easy, cheap, and holds up fine on reds, stripers, and specks.

I even tried UV cured epoxies--$$$$. Target EM9300 meets all ten of your points. Especially costs. A fellow builder on this site got me hooked on this water based and UV stable polycarbonate topcoat. I still use D2T for encapsulating foils and/or pre-finishing balsa baits, but the Target is it; for me. Got my quota of fumes a long time ago. I dip 3 times in 1hr increments. I like DN, but, after using up my last batch, and testing the 9300 over time, I'll take the Target. Thanks, Mark P.!

I tried to get an MSDS for DN awhile back. Nada. I'm also warning any newbees to DN--this stuff is not to be taken lightly, as far as any safety concerns. Please, please, buy a good respirator! And if you really like your facial hair, consider some other topcoat, since the respirator must fit properly. Dont mean to go off topic, but if it keeps a new user from gettin sick, it cant be said too often. This stuff will hurt you good. Its also a killer one app' topcoat!

The 9mm casings are HEAVY. you will be forced to use very small bearings, and mite be dissapointed with the results. The discs can be made with a punch and weigh only tenths of a gram. this way you are in a better situation to dictate hole size and bearing size. Been there..

Good luck with the basswood. I swore off of it after blowing up many plugs when I made my best effort to seal them. Maybe some guys here have rock solid solutions to this tendency. Use Poplar or AYC! Or better yet, PVC trimboard. Sorry about getinn off subject, but I warn guys about basswood everytime, when they mention it. Pvc is the best, and requires no sealing steps. As far as the approach youre taking to the chamber, it sounds "bulletproof" ; )I make brass discs using a hole punch so I can use the larger chamber configurations I mentioned earlier for those big plugs. I like a 1/2in hole, 9/16 c-bore .03'' deep, with a 3/8in bb. I drill as low off the centerline as I can get away with. Sounds like a car wreck under water! Use the basswood for fixtures and keychain lures.

You can monkey around with ballast AND rattle chambers by cross-drilling any size holes completly thru the lure body perpendicular to the plug. For a big plug (9-12in), a 1/2in hole with a 5/16-3/8in. ball bearing rolling around, with or without a metal or plastic tube for a liner (= more sound). The holes are counter bored just deep enough to accept metal ( .015 stainless/brass) end plates that can be covered and re-inforced with a epoxy-tissue/cloth combo or something that you have confidence in. This makes some serious noise, and gives you balance and ballast options. It flat out works.

http://www.tanninglamps4less.com/uvcuring.html http://www.solarez.com/productsnew/products.html Im looking hard at this. Look for the testimonial on uv curing fishing lures. A guys has a home built a rig for under 200$ I know from the quotes I got that the resin is about twice the cost of DN or D2T. But, the health hazards of DN and the time for both to cure mite be worth the investment for a mom and pop shop. I will try this at some point, even if I have to sink my own money into it. The quote I got from Dymax is 100 for a litre. Thats twice the cost per bait compared to baby sitting D2T and wearing a mask for the DN. Ive gotten my quota of fumes a long time ago, and water based aint doing the job either.So...

Yeah, the Ecraft Craftwell is the one I bought. 230$. But the standard software wouldnt communicate with my scanner, so I laid out another 60 for "Make The Cut". It works. I was paying stupid money to a local graphics artist, and everyone else who quoted me was too high, as well. I need hundreds, not hundreds of thousands of cuts made! "The man makes it hard to be a playa" I guess I just got pissed off about it enough to do some review/homework on buying one of these things, and I'll make the money back pretty quick, hopefully within months of my startup. I used to cut these out by hand from metal templates! Geez. I will post a review on this thread of this machine soon. I still have quite a few of the old layups to use, so I mite procrastinate a little learning the new machine. Wont be too long though, at the current pace of building my plugs. M

Yep. no dice. Ray. Moores lures. I called but they must be recovering from the holiday weekend. Smae there. Starts at 1'' for .072.

Im almost out of the vinyl layups that I paid a local to "cut" for me, so I need to get busy learning the Make The Cut software for my Ecraft. When I do I will certainly provide feedback. But, I did make sure that I could use this machine with my scanner before I bought it, and it does just that, so I will be able to make any template/stencil I want and get the Ecraft to cut it. I simply drew a circle on some paper, loaded it in the scanner and it came up on the drawing screen for me to modify and send to the cutter, but learning all the finer details about nodes and crap like that will take me awhile. But, I will show some work for the site when I fianlly learn the nerdy points.

Yeah, Ive done a few searches in the past and found prices were mostly available by quotes only, wich says "moocho dooonaro" to me without even knowing for sure. Just a hunch. Looks like youd have to be in the game at a very high level to go out and tool up. Hopefully it pans out like flat screen TV's, and the price becomes do-able. I probably will be setting a hook in the "great beyond" by then..... Thanx.

Thanx SS.They do just that and sound like ball bearings in a pill bottle with the metal lined chambers that are built in. Hope to open the e-store by late summer. Custom Inshore Lures.com. All hand made. Lots of TLC and very little hope for making lots of money, but I dont care, cause I love seeing the pics of lunker trout with my baits hangin from their maws, and Id make em irregardless of the company anyway! Near the end of R&d and technical issues......

Anyone know anything about this technology? Costs? Performance?

Ok, as far as stencils, I bought .01" butyrate sheet from McMaster Carr (25$ for a sheet big enough to make about 50 left and right stencils). It can be used with a homemade vac former, and a low cost heat gun without any damge to a bare plug. I make resin based 2 piece lure halves, so I put one half on the perforated can and heat a small square peice of sheet with the gun until it starts to sag. Being only .01 thick, it doesnt take much heat to get it going. Then I flip the vac on (wich is attached to the can). Voila. Instant form fittimg stencil blank. I have to thank Dakota? baits on Youtube for his ingenuity. Ive thermo-formed plastic before and all that is needed to do this is the right kinda plastic sheet. I cant emphasize this point enough, cause I tried thicker polyethylenes (.025"), only to find that I couldnt easily cut them for the shapes I wanted. The.01 butyrate/acetate is the ticket. An Xacto is all thats needed. Dremel for spots. The guy on Youtube was forming over a complete plug, but still got the desired result. He stated he used a dremel to make the cuts, afterwards. His material was similar to the one I first tried, but gave me fits when cutting. I even tried a wood burning type tool only to find huge burrs underneath that required too much labor to remove. I'll bet the butyrate hits the rite temp with a hair dryer, if you have patience. I also bought a Ecraft Craftwell die cutter and Im learning how to stop paying my local graphics artist to do my vinyl layups on my saltwater lures. This machine will also do any other kinda stencil I can dream up. Am I obsessed, or what? Hope that helps!

Didint think about MCarr! Thats where I got my butyrate stencil plastic. I searched the forum and found the screws at Moores tackle aslo. Woohoo! Thanx BTH.

Need help finding .072" dia by 3/4" long. I can only find 1'' long in that dia. ?????? Tried all the usual places and everything in .072 starts at 1''. Thanks

Even though I figured it out, Im leaning against any ink/enamal markings like model or signature. I have form fitting stencils for blood spots and any other thing I wish to add. I did notice though, the latex Sharpies were OK. Not Duracolor or any others. Dakota baits guys showed me the ropes for the form fitting stencils. I use .01" Butyrate, and it can be cut with an Xacto after forming. Killer.....youtube. Thanks guys... Heres couple Supermullet 95 slowsinkers. http://i449.photobucket.com/albums/qq216/markinorf/012.jpg http://i449.photobucket.com/albums/qq216/markinorf/blutiger.jpg

Thanx Bob, It was the HK Intercoat clear. Have had no issues with other pre finishes. On my way.....

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!You saved me some mula. Mark

Thanx much. I dont have the cash to retool for water based right now though. I tried a calligraphy pen with the black base coat HK, and for whatever reason, I couldnt get the paint to flow down the slot consistently. Geez. It was a cheapo tip that I burnished lightly on some wood to prevent scratching. I love solvent based paints for there speedy dry times and overall look, but, if I cant figure this out, I will have no choice but to retool. I think I will make 3 passes with the vinyl based clear (Jannsnetcraft) instead, and try again. If that doesnt work, maybe spray the DN, go 48hrs, then dip it. Thanx again Bob.

A forstner bit makes great eye sockets, and a double cut rotary ball file makes short work of popper mouths. Find both at Grizzly.com. I clean the rotary bits with a wire brush when they get loaded up. I cut those popper mouths at a slow rpm, and take my time. Hope that helps.